Mihai Băcescu

Mihai Băcescu
Born (1908-03-28)28 March 1908
Broșteni, Suceava, northern Romania
Died 6 August 1999(1999-08-06) (aged 91)
Bucharest
Nationality Romanian
Occupation Marine zoologist

Mihai Băcescu (28 March 1908 – 6 August 1999) was a Romanian zoologist.

Biography

Eliza and Mihai Băcescu the sea expedition, 1937
Jacques-Yves Cousteau with Băcescu, 1977
Antipa Museum team congratulates Michael Băcescu on the occasion of his 88th birthday, 28 March 1996

Mihai Băcescu was born in Broșteni, Suceava, northern Romania on 28 March 1906. He was orphaned at the age of four. He entered university in 1933, and five years later published a thesis on Romanian Mysidacea. He won a scholarship to France in 1939 and worked at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, at the Marine Biological Stations at Banyuls-sur-Mer and at Roscoff. He met the French zoologists Louis Fage (1883-1964), Édouard Chatton (1883-1947), Charles Pérez (1873-1952) and Jules Richard (1863-1945).

On the intervention of Grigore Antipa (1867-1944), in 1940 Băcescu was transferred from the University of Iaşi to the National Museum of Natural History in Bucharest. He worked there until the end of his life, and headed the museum for nearly thirty years. He held various other positions in the fields of marine research and fisheries in Romania. Băcescu participated in several scientific expeditions to the coasts of Peru and Chile (1965), Mauritania (1975), Arabia (1977) and Tanzania (1973-1974). Bacescu founded the Museum of Falticeni. He was a member of the Romanian Academy, and of the French Society of Zoology and Director of the Institute of Oceanography Albert 1er in Monaco.

He died in Bucharest on 6 August 1999.

Work

Băcescu issued nearly 480 publications on all types of animals. He was interested in their morphology, taxonomy and zoogeography, and also in the protection of species and in their relationship with humans. His main specializations were the Mysidacea, Cumacea and Tanaidacea, of which he described more than three hundred new taxa including several families. He was also the author of numerous books on the ecology of the Black Sea, the fauna of Romania, bioethnology, etc.. As a tribute to his work, more than 70 taxa have been dedicated to him by various scientists. Louis Fage named a species of Cumacea, Diastyloides bacescoi.

Partial list of publications

References

Citations

    Sources


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